One interesting thing I spotted today was a new report from Deloitte, its "State of the Media Democracy" report. It was the seventh such report to emerge, and it had plenty of exciting information for just about every sector of the electronics and media landscape. But what we deal with here is gaming, and guess what? There was plenty of information in the Deloitte report to keep the gamers paying attention.

While the Deloitte report is posing interesting incidental tidbits for the gaming market--like the fact that the "digital omnivore", or someone who owns a tablet, laptop and smartphone, is up big time, or that tablet use is on the rise in general even if they don't fit into the digital omnivore class--there are some very clear specifics that make for a big set of possibilities.

First is the news that 80 percent of consumers multitask while watching television. Given the rise of digital omnivores and tablet / smartphone users overall, it's a safe bet that some of that multitasking involves gaming. I know it has in my case on several occasions; I'm actually watching television right now, and I've certainly been known to play games on the laptop while watching movies. Great for when things turn a bit slow.

But what's especially noteworthy in the report is that online gaming subscriptions are up fully 47 percent. That means a lot more gamers playing online, and making subscriptions. With several new MMO titles in play--Star Wars: The Old Republic, Eve Online, the massive World of Warcraft series--and others preparing for arrival like the Elder Scrolls Online series among others, there's simply a lot more to play.

Some might think that a slower economy would keep users away from game subscriptions, but there's certainly a school of thought that suggests that gaming subscriptions would be a comparative value in entertainment. Paying somewhere around $20-$30 a month would be less than your standard cable bill, and for those who already replaced cable with Netflix or Hulu Plus, there's some extra room in the budget to work with.

It's certainly a boon to the mobile gaming market, with more mobile gamers and more ways to play mobile gaming. Subscription gaming is also getting a boost, so we may well see more MMOs come online in the near term future. But more games in general is always welcome.

It's clear that the landscape of digital media is changing. With more devices, and more potential ways for gaming to make itself known, it's going to shake up the landscape. The full ramifications of the Deloitte study will take some time to make themselves fully known, though, so while much of this remains to be seen, there are still plenty of exciting possibilities.

One interesting thing I spotted today was a new report from Deloitte, its \"State of the Media Democracy\" report. It was the seventh such report to emerge, and it had plenty of exciting information for just about every sector of the electronics and media landscape. But what we deal with here is gaming, and guess what? There was plenty of information in the Deloitte report to keep the gamers paying attention.

While the Deloitte report is posing interesting incidental tidbits for the gaming market--like the fact that the \"digital omnivore\", or someone who owns a tablet, laptop and smartphone, is up big time, or that tablet use is on the rise in general even if they don't fit into the digital omnivore class--there are some very clear specifics that make for a big set of possibilities.

First is the news that 80 percent of consumers multitask while watching television. Given the rise of digital omnivores and tablet / smartphone users overall, it's a safe bet that some of that multitasking involves gaming. I know it has in my case on several occasions; I'm actually watching television right now, and I've certainly been known to play games on the laptop while watching movies. Great for when things turn a bit slow.

But what's especially noteworthy in the report is that online gaming subscriptions are up fully 47 percent. That means a lot more gamers playing online, and making subscriptions. With several new MMO titles in play--Star Wars: The Old Republic, Eve Online, the massive World of Warcraft series--and others preparing for arrival like the Elder Scrolls Online series among others, there's simply a lot more to play.

Some might think that a slower economy would keep users away from game subscriptions, but there's certainly a school of thought that suggests that gaming subscriptions would be a comparative value in entertainment. Paying somewhere around \$20-\$30 a month would be less than your standard cable bill, and for those who already replaced cable with Netflix or Hulu Plus, there's some extra room in the budget to work with.

It's certainly a boon to the mobile gaming market, with more mobile gamers and more ways to play mobile gaming. Subscription gaming is also getting a boost, so we may well see more MMOs come online in the near term future. But more games in general is always welcome.

It's clear that the landscape of digital media is changing. With more devices, and more potential ways for gaming to make itself known, it's going to shake up the landscape. The full ramifications of the Deloitte study will take some time to make themselves fully known, though, so while much of this remains to be seen, there are still plenty of exciting possibilities.\n